Introduction to Philosophy

Phil. 200

Dr. Ray Penn

Office: Phone:

Home Phone: (423) 562-4559 E-mail: pennseven@aol.com

Office Hours: 9 a.m. M.T.W.Th.F.

10 a.m. M.T.W.Th.F.

2:15-3 p.m. T.W.Th.

Other times are available by appointment.

Campus Address: Box 1002

Home Address: 138 Lilac Drive, LaFollette, TN, 37766

Course Description: This is an introductory course in philosophy that covers the major figures in Western philosophy as well as key issues of philosophical thinking: Ideas and thinking, mind and matter, the nature of education, the nature of good and evil, fate versus free will, the nature and existence of God, the place of human beings in the universe, the soul and immortality, and the proper nature of the state.

Textbooks:

Donald Palmer: Visions of Human Nature.

Simon Blackburn: Think.

Objectives: At the end of the semester students should be able to: summarize the key ideas of a variety of philosophers and work towards answering the key questions of philosophy for themselves.

Requirements:

4 Exams (20% each)

1 Paper (15%)

Attendance and Participation (5%)

Paper: Choose one of the following types of papers.

1. An indepth biography of a philosopher with a summary of that philosopher’s key ideas.

2. A personal effort to answer one of the philosophical questions we have dealt with in the course.

3. A comparison of how various philosophers have dealt with a key philosophical question.

Reading Schedule:

August 28: Palmer, Chpt. 1

30: Blackburn, Chpts. 1 and 2

September 4: Palmer, Chpt. 2

18: Blackburn, Chpt. 5

27: Blackburn, Chpt. 3

October 2: Palmer, Chpt. 5

9: Blackburn, Chpt. 7

November 6: Palmer, Chpt. 6

13: Palmer, Chpt. 7

20: Palmer, Chpt. 8

27: Palmer, Chpt. 9

December 4: Palmer, Chpt. 10

6: Blackburn, Chpt. 8

Tentative Schedule:

August 21: Introduction to the Course

August 23: Socrates

August 28: Plato

August 30: What can be known and how do we know it?

September 4: Aristotle

September 6: What is happiness and how do we achieve it?

September 11: Augustine

September 13: Exam #1

September 18: Thomas Aquinas

September 20: Can we prove the existence of God?

September 25: Machiavelli

September 27: Are we governed by fate or free will?

October 2: Decarte

October 4: Fall Break

October 9: Kant

October 11: Exam #2

October 16: Hegel

October 18: What is the proper nature of government?

October 23: Nietzsche

October 25: What is good and evil?

October 30: Pragmatism: William James and John Dewey

November 1: How should we educate a society?

November 6: Kierkegaard

November 8: How should we deal with suffering?

November 13: Darwin

November 15: Exam #3

November 20: Marx

November 22: Thanksgiving

November 27: Freud

November 29: What is human nature really like?

December 4: The Existentialists

December 6: Final Conclusions

December 13: (10:30-12:30) Exam #4